Tag Archives: cans

I’ve been intrigued by this old-school carnival “Knock Down the Cans” game, which uses recycled materials, since I first saw the Halloween Cans on Pinterest two years ago. So I finally sat down to follow through on doing it this week. The Pinterest link is broken, so I just went with the images and did my own thing.

Honestly, it required a bit more effort than I imagined, simply because the cans required 3 to 4 coats of paint. While I do use cheap acrylic paints, four coats is a lot.

Save and clean at least six 28 ounce cans.

Decide on your painting scheme, and apply the whole base coat in that color until you no longer see the can. (Like I said, it took me 3 to 4 coats.) Definitely use acrylic paint;tempra will flake off. Be sure to let it dry completely between coats

Orange for pumpkins

White for ghosts

Green for Frankenstein’s Monster

Purple (or lavender) for Dracula

(not pictured) Black for Cats

(not pictured) Brown or Red for Owls

Add decorative details… let it dry.

Spray finish in Rust-oleum Crystal Clear Enamel (note: if you don’t do this finishing spray, the cans will quickly chip, and the color won’t be as bright… trust me: you want to do the finishing spray).

Total time: 2 – 3 hours, paced over the course of a few days. Cost: $0 (because I had all the paint and finishing spray on hand).

I plan on using this game at a Halloween party we have with family friends before trick-or-treating, but decided to test it out one afternoon that my boys had a friend over. This old school fun was a HUGEhit! Definitely worth the time to create.